Gammon Shank

As a rule I would normal walk past the reduced meat section in a supermarket, in my eyes these pieces are either just about to go out of date, are the last of the stock, or just plain ugly.

Today was different, a gammon shank, was £1.99 and now reduced to £1.19 and I picked it up, it was heavy. As an ex butcher I knew half of this was bone, a shank is of course the tapering end of a leg. I bought it.

The instructions were simple, simmer in water for an hour plus twenty minutes. Today was a hot day and so I cooked it at lunch time for a salad based tea tonight.

When cooked and cooled I set about it with a sharp knife, it was expectantly fiddly but I managed to get just under a kilo of meat from a two kilo joint, and as it was gammon it had a good strong flavor.

I'll stop more often at the reduced section now.

Supermarket: Morrisons

BBQ Onions

I really enjoy a small family BBQ but onions just aren't designed to fit. The solution is simple. Use a recently opened and washed can like a baked bean tin, remove the lable (important if you don't want it to catch fire), pour on a drop of oil and add some raw cut onions.

Put at the cooler edge of the BBQ and stir occasionally. Best served using tongs.

Egg in toast

Love plain and simple but with a twist. Egg in toast certainly hits this mark. Lightly toast a slice of bread then using an upside down glass, gently press out a circle and remove it.
Put the toast in a frying pan with a little oil on the hole in the center and break in a small to medium egg.
Once the bottom of the egg has set I flip the whole lot over to ensure the egg gets cooked properly. It a quick and quirky treat, kid love it.

Break Time: Chocolate drink

This tempted me just a little. Single sachet of White Chocolate drink for 39p ideal for a sneaky 'only me' drink. I have to admit that although it was nice I felt I wanted a stronger taste, something more reminiscent to a bar of Milky Bar from my child hood. That aside, there were two other flavors on the shelf which included Gingerbread and Toffee Fudge.

Morrisons: 39p

Naan Bread Pizza

Naan Bread Pizza: Simple and quick. This version is for four people and something the children can make for you. prep time about 10 minutes. Cooking time about 10 minutes.
 
2 double packs of naan bread (4 breads in all).
Tomato puree (or tomato ketchup).
Cheese.
Cheap cooked meat such as chicken, sandwich ham, yesterdays sausages sliced etc.
Mozzarella cheese for that stringy cheese effect.

Liberally cover each bread with tomato puree or ketchup . . .

Add the cooked meat. Don't use fresh meat, it won't cook in time.

Sprinkle some cheap Cheddar cheese and Mozzarella if you have some

10 minutes on a medium oven and bake until the cheese melts.

Notes: chances are you already have cheese, tomato ketchup and some cooked meat at home on occasions and so the cost is limited to the Naan bread. We used a flavored bread because that was all they had at the time. Cheese from Iceland and the rest from Tesco.